Hovnanian Says Weekend Home Sale a Success

Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises said its weekend sales blitz on some of its hottest real estate properties was a clear success but exact figures are yet to be determined.

"It has been phenomenally successful," said Doug Fenichel, head of public relations for Hovnanian's Northeast region.

"The number of people visiting our centers was in the thousands, and that was just in New Jersey," he said. "We knew people were ready to buy and many people found deals they liked and are buying homes."

Fenichel added that all of the company's properties in Parsippany, N.J. were completely sold out over the weekend. The company expects to have more details on the numbers of homes sold by Tuesday, the spokesman said.

The sale, announced on Sept. 5, started at 9 a.m. Friday and ending at 9 p.m. Sunday, involved thousands of homes in 19 states and was promoted by the company in radio and print ads as the "Deal of the Century."

Hovnanian currently does not have plans to conduct a similar sale in the future, according to Fenichel.

"We're always trying to provide value, but this was called the deal of the century because it was a one-time shot," Fenichel said. "We needed to give people a little push to get them in and tomorrow prices go back to normal."

Tight credit, fueled by a meltdown in the subprime mortgage industry this year, has sidelined potential buyers who were already wary following years of escalating home prices.

Hovnanian recently reported a quarterly loss of $1.27 a share, compared with a profit of $1.15 a share in the same period last year.